"Time is life. It is irreversible and irreplaceable. To waste your time is to waste your life, but to master your time is to master your life and make the most of it"
~ ALAN LAKEIN
How many times in your life have you asked yourself "where has the time gone?" Time does not slow because you have a long list of things you want to do. Time does not slow because you wish your children to stay young. Time does not slow because you are aging or because you want to remain on vacation just a little longer. Time does not slow.
How many times in your life have you asked "Oh could you just hurry up?" Time does not speed up because you are anxious about something, or because you are ready. Time does not speed up because you wish to get through your pain quicker. Time does not speed up because you want summer to arrive sooner. Time does not speed up.
There are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, 52 weeks in a year. This does not change.
Time is more valuable than money. Most people are very cautious of how they choose to spend their money because they only make a certain amount of it. If you didn't have a disposable income you would calculate carefully how each cent was spent, right? But why not also carefully choose how each second of your time is spent as you are only given a certain amount of it.
There has been many moments in my life recently when I've stopped and thought "is this a waste of my time?" And the answer I am still searching for. Hence the reason I am writing this. If a person wanted to budget their money the first thing they would do is write down what they spend money on. The same would be true if you wanted to figure out where your time goes. Sit down and log everything you spend time on in one day or one week.
Just as with money I bet you'll be surprised with the amount you may waste. What is wasted time? Time spent doing things that aren't contributing to your success, wellness and happiness.
What is good use of your time? Time spent with the right people, as in people you enjoy being around, lift your mood and make you feel genuinely happier. Time spent enjoying life or being productive.
Necessary spent time is the time you spend on necessary tasks. Just as you must spend necessary money on rent, utilities, food, etc. you must also spend necessary time on tasks such as work, sleep, cooking, cleaning, etc. But that doesn't mean you can't or won't enjoy doing these tasks just that in my opinion they are necessary activities in which we need to spend our time.
In my opinion if you've gotten to the point of questioning whether something is a waste of your time then it probably is. I'm not saying that spending your evening watching television is time wasted if that is what truly makes you happy. But if you find yourself, like me wondering why time seems to slip by quickly some days and other days time drags on and on then you might want to identify where your precious time is being spent.
Like that movie, In Time where everything they did cost time instead of money. In real life you don't have to buy groceries with your time but you do have to spend a certain about of time grocery shopping. In that movie they could buy, sell and trade time however in real life this is not an option. You are given 1,440 minutes everyday, how are you going to spend them?
